How much is it worth to be Marilyn Monroe’s upstairs neighbor? Well the starting bid was $500,000 on August 14, 2009 and closed on August 24, 2009 at $4,620,100 after 17 bidders drove the price up. The crypt for sale is not currently vacant, but the widow is willing to move her late husband and bypass his dying wish for some duckets. “Beverly Hills widow Elsie Poncher, whose late husband was laid to rest in the crypt directly above Monroe, put her beloved’s valuable vault on the block August 14, 2009 to help pay off the $1.6 million mortgage on her home.”
“Richard Poncher bought the crypt from Yankee great Joe DiMaggio during his divorce from Monroe, the widow said. Poncher wasn’t a huge fan of Marilyn at the time, the widow said, but as he lay dying, he made a startling vow. “He said, “If I croak and you don’t put me upside down over Marilyn, I’ll haunt you the rest of my life,” Elsie Poncher said.” When he made this request I am assuming he thought it would be forever.
The winner of the auction has since backed out and the crypt is back on the market first being offered to the bidders who did not win.
Marilyn Monroe[1][2] (June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962), born Norma Jeane Mortenson, but baptized Norma Jeane Baker, was an American actress, singer, comedian and model.
After spending much of her childhood in foster homes, Monroe began a career as a model, which led to a film contract in 1946. Her early roles were minor, but her performances in The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve (both 1950) were well received. She was praised for her comedic ability in such films as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, How to Marry a Millionaire, Some Like It Hot and The Seven Year Itch, and became one of Hollywood’s most popular and glamorous performers.
The typecasting of Monroe’s “dumb blonde” persona limited her career prospects, so she broadened her range. She studied at the Actors Studio and formed Marilyn Monroe Productions. Her dramatic performance in William Inge‘s Bus Stop was hailed by critics, and she won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Some Like it Hot.
The final years of Monroe’s life were marked by illness, personal problems, and a reputation for being unreliable and difficult to work with. The circumstances of her death, from an overdose of barbiturates, have been the subject of conjecture. Though officially classified as a “probable suicide,” the possibility of an accidental overdose has not been ruled out.
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